For the Sake of Science

One of the things WordPress told me was that “If [Maloney] is a doctor you cannot say or infer he is not.” Well, looksie here.

2. Title. A licensee must use the title “naturopathic doctor.” Naturopathic doctors have the exclusive right to the use of the terms “naturopathic doctor,” “naturopathic,” “naturopath,” “doctor of naturopathic medicine,” “doctor of naturopathy,” “naturopathic medicine,” “naturopathic health care,” “naturopathy” and the recognized abbreviation “N.D.” Use of the title “physician” by the licensee is prohibited.

According to this, naturopaths cannot refer to themselves as doctors. If one says otherwise, he is breaking the law. So the statement “A naturopath is not a doctor” is true because a naturopath is only a “naturopathic doctor” or any one of the above combinations.

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I’ve been home for about two and a half hours…and I’m still wearing my work clothes. I’ve been reading all the posts, from PZ to Dr. Novella. (PZ has several posts.) I can hardly respond to all the details – and, really, should I? This blog is still on WordPress. Who knows what will make them shut me down again?

I do want to respond to a couple points. First,

The only problem I have with this is that Doctor Maloney, while being a quack, is actually a doctor. If Maine officially says he’s a doctor, then he’s a doctor, and he would rightly “target” any blog that libels him by saying otherwise.

All a blogger would have to do is edit his posts to say that Maloney is not a doctor by the standards of other states, and does not have the same qualifications as a medical doctor.

This is precisely what I did. I specifically said Maloney is a doctor by Maine standards. I then went on to criticize those standards while also pointing out that by common medical standards, the status of naturopaths in Maine is in doubt.

Then there’s this from Maloney himself.

After failing to get an editorial published against God he decided I was, flatteringly, next on the list.

Actually, I did get that published. The link to the Kennebec Journal’s website no longer works since they updated everything (as of today), but I reprinted the letter in full in my post – my post which came nearly a month before my letter about Maloney. Don’t worry. I still hate religion (and even more than I hate naturopathy, believe it or not).

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